Friday, January 16, 2009

I slept surprisingly well, even though it was only for 2 hours.It hadn’t snowed all night. We grabbed some food at the hotel before drudging back out to the airport.

We still hadn’t found our bags, but we heard there was a chance they had been placed on a plane already.

The flight was delayed 30 mins, but the plane showed up and were relieved to be one step closer. However the airport was still swamped and we wouldnt take off from the gate for another 2 hours waiting our turn.

We finally got off the gate, but we need to be de-iced since the plane had been on the ground yesterday and the wings had frozen over with snow. Fortunately it didn’t take long. The plane was surprisingly empty so most of us sprawled out across three seats and slept through the flight.

When we arrived in Alicante we had to wait in line for another 2 hours to make a claim for our lost luggage.

I was one of the last to get through the line. Fortunately Armando, one of the program coordinators and professors was waiting for us as we walked out.

We drove to a 4 star hotel which we stayed in over the night. Most of us passed out up in our rooms before dinner as we were still exhausted from the mess in Madrid.

Around 7 we came down stairs and met everyone and proceeded out to a restaurant nearby (the name escapes me at this moment) that the program treated us to. They served a first and second plate, along with bread, and a local wine. For the most part is was good. Some people were put off a bit by the seafood soup, which had whole shrimp/prawns in it (eyes end everything). I ordered empanadas (sausage and cheese type platter) and a type of ham for my second plate. It was all quite delicious.

Afterwards a bunch of us hung out back upstairs in the hotel, while others went to bed.

Around midnight a couple of students still here from last semester took us out to el barrio, where the bars and clubs are of the town. It was an awesome place, but there were a lot of international students out, so it wasn't the most authentic experience. There is a rumor that sometimes they give students 2 beers for the price of one, but I have yet to see this.

*A comment, these blogs take longer to write than i thought so I am going to make future posts shorter and respond to comments more